Captain Jack's Elaina
by treblegnome
Summary: Only he can save her, from herself.


Captain Jack Harkness strode down the dark alley alone. He had gotten a tip from Brent, a police officer friend, that a woman had asked to meet him here. His first thought had been to deal with her by giving out another amnesia pill. Then Brent explained to him that this woman might be of interest to Torchwood. She was trouble. Everywhere she went, men lost control of their senses to sleep with her and when these men's betrayed partners sought revenge, they claimed they couldn't kill her. What exactly all that meant, Brent didn't know. He only knew the rumors. Jack did some research but the evidence made it unclear if this woman was a villian or a victim. Jack wasn't sure if he was about to be dealing with human woman or an alien.

It didn't take long to find her. She soon revealed herself to him, stepping out of the shadows and meeting him in the alley. She was not as tall as he'd expected. In fact she was not what he expected at all. She was short, petite, with long wavy brown hair that spilled out of a long loose braid. She had a spattering of freckles on her cheeks and she wore a denim skirt with brown ballet flats and a pale gray sweater. She looked vulnerable and sweet, not at all the nimpho he might have assumed her to be, given her reputation. The only thing odd about her were her purple eyes.

"You are Captain Jack Harkness?" She asked, there wasn't a hint of flirtation in her voice or demeanor. Her accent was Russian.

"I am." He said warily.

"I am Elaina Rostov and I would like to make a request of you."

"What request?"

"Lock me up in Torchwood and never let me out."

"Why?"

She looked at her feet. "I am dangerous. I need help."

"We'll see. Come with me." He led her to the black SUV used by Torchwood, obediently she followed.

Back at Torchwood it was the middle of the night. The rest of the team was at home asleep. Jack opened the door and Elaina walked into her plastic windowed cell without a fight. She had tears in her eyes. Jack began checking through the backpack she had carried for weapons and artifacts. She watched in silence. He pulled out three more denim skirts, several shirts and undergarments. The clothing was only a small portion of the contents of the large bag. Next was a bag of nuts, half a chocolate bar, and a water bottle, followed by a couple dozen or so books and a handful of change in the bottom of the bag.

"Twenty-seven books." He said bewildered. "Your travels would be a lot lighter without them."

"My life would be meaningless without them." She stated.

He took a closer look at the titles. There was a mixture of classics, philosophy, history texts, and many Russian titles also Spanish, German, Latin, French and Sanskrit. They were well worn, evidently read many times over. There was more to this woman than it seemed.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked her from his side of the clear wall. "Why did you give yourself up?"

"What time is it?" She ignored his question.

"One AM. Why does it matter?"

"Because in five hours the curse will come again. It comes in six hour cycles, it has ever since I turned fourteen. Don't be down here near the cells when the time comes, don't allow any males at all down here. Any guy who comes close enough to touch, or breathe on, or kiss, will not be able to resist."

"So you must produce pheromones in six hour cycles." Jack said, half understanding her plight.

"Yes," She nodded. "But it's more than that. If I am not able to release the pheromones by having sex, then I'll be in pain, the pain becomes unbearable the longer I wait. No painkiller or drug on earth can help me. I've tried them all."

"But if sex fixes it, why don't you just find a long term partner, a boyfriend or girlfriend or a husband? Why all these random men in bars and on the street?" Jack wanted to know.

"A girlfriend wouldn't help. Only a male can release me. And I've tried monogamy. I even had a husband once. For the first twenty years it was very good. Then he began to age and I didn't. He couldn't keep up and he didn't want to share me, even to spare me pain. Most boyfriends have been the same. Possessive and often blaming me for what I can not change. And aging men can't have sex four times every twenty four hours. So I keep finding myself destroying the people I love over and over again, or being forced to watch them grow old and die. It's simpler just to allow random people to sleep with me than to hurt or lose the people I love." She said, still unable to look him in the eye.

"So you are immortal?" He had to know.

"Yes." She admitted. "I am three hundred and twenty-two years old. I've lost count of how many times I've died."

"I happen to be a lot older than I look too." Jack told her.

She finally looked at him, fear filled her eyes. "I'm scared Jack. I'm fucking terrified. Will you stay with me for a few hours? It should be safe for that long. By eight, I will be in so much pain that I won't know who I am anymore. I don't want to spend my last cognizant hours alone."

Silently he unlocked the cell. "I'll do better than that. Come with me."

She followed him back the vehicle that had brought her there. He drove her across the city and parked at a dance club.

"How about a dance?" He opened her door for her and offered his hand.

"Okay." She said, hesitantly taking his hand and going inside with him.

They lost track of time on the dance floor. In spite of her reticent nature, Jack managed to get her to laugh, to relax just a little. After a long while the music changed, allowing for a slower more romantic dance. Jack put his arms around her and pulled her body closer to his. Halfway through the song, he lifted her chin and looked in her eyes for a moment. She was trembling. Then he kissed her, deeply, longingly. When he moved away to look at her, she had tears on her face.

"What?" He asked, wondering for a second if he'd done the wrong thing.

"It's only 3 AM. Far too early for the pheromones to be at work. You just kissed me for real."

"Yeah, I did. I take it that hasn't happened in a while."

"Not in a fifty years." She looked down at the floor again.

"Why the hell not? You're definitely attractive enough to get a kiss without pheromones."

"I don't want men to fall in love with me and I don't want to fall in love with them. I already explained this." She pulled away from him. "Take me back to Torchwood please."

"It was just a kiss. I didn't realize it would bother you."

"Why? Because I'm just a whore anyway?" Elaina was crying. She walked away from him and went back to the vehicle. Half a minute later he joined her. She sat curled up in the passenger seat, sobbing, her head on her knees.

"I'm sorry." Jack said. "I didn't mean to hurt you and I never thought of you as a whore."

She didn't answer him. He started the car. The drove in silence back to Torchwood.

"Jack?" She said as they were reached her cell. "I'm sorry too."

"Elaina, I don't understand what just happened back there. Everything about your body language said that you were attracted to me and wanted to be kissed. Was I wrong?"

"No, you were right." She admitted but didn't elaborate.

"Then why did you run away?"

"Because, in spite of this cycle I've been cursed with and my inability to die, I really am just an ordinary human woman." Her voice was breaking with emotion. "I don't want to be with a different man four times a day! I hate living like this! I want to be loved by one person for the rest of my life, to have a home and stability, and I can never have that...Most of the time, if I keep busy...keep moving from city to city, I can deal with that reality. But you punched a hole in it, reminded me of what I can never have."

"Maybe you can. Maybe we can help you here."

"No one can. I've been in bed with the best scientists in the world, and I've been to other worlds as well. There's no cure for me."

"Then why did you really come here? Why not just keep running?"

"I am tired of running. I just want to die! I never expected Torchwood to cure me. I want you to kill me!"

"No, even if it is possible, I won't do that." Jack said.

She screamed in frustration, punching the glass and the stone cell walls, bruising her hands and bringing blood to the knuckles. The door was still open, Jack grabbed her from behind, taking her hands and forcing her to stop hurting herself. He was far stronger and soon had pulled her into embrace, turning her to face him, containing her arms, keeping her still. She relaxed a little but remained stiff. Her hands healed within seconds.

"You don't want to die." He whispered in her ear. "You want to be happy and to be safe. I can give you what you need."

She looked at him questioningly. "Why would you do that?" She breathed.

He swallowed, loosening his hold, letting her step away. "I saw the video from the warehouse where Rita Jennings locked you up alone after you touched her boyfriend. I didn't understand it then, but I do now. Eight hours, eight hours of agony and hell for you because there were no men to set you free... "

Elaina bit her lip, shuddering at the memory.

"And I saw another tape," He went on, "Security footage from a bar restroom. You touched a man on the arm and he came after you. It looked far more like you were the one being raped than him. You certainly didn't enjoy it. When he was done, he shoved you aside and ran away. You sat on the floor sobbing like you did just now in the car."

"It is rape." She wept. "Every time. Except I bring it on myself. I bring out violence in the ordinary men around me. And when it's over they always throw me away like I was nothing."

"Then let me be with you now, not because of any pheromones, but because I want to. Allow someone to care about you and make you feel good for a little while." Jack moved closer to her, putting his arms around her he kissed her again. She didn't pull away this time, but when he started taking off her clothes, she wept. He knew why, he understood that it had probably been half a century since any man had slept with her of his own free will or had done so gently. And maybe she was a little bit afraid. So he took his time, feeling her body and letting her enjoy his touch. They ended up on the dusty cell floor but neither cared about being covered in dirt. It was after 5 when they finished. They dressed and sat on the floor talking.

"So what happens now?" Jack asked. "Will you still be ready at 6?"

"No. You've reset the cycle. It will be six hours from now. Eleven o'clock... the pain has been put off a little longer."

"Eleven, I'll be here."

"You mean...?"

"Yes, I mean I'll be here, or wherever you are, everytime."

She just stared at him, awestruck. "Jack, that's a huge commitment to make. And I'm not saying I don't want you to...but...you barely know me...are you sure?"

"Elaina, I like you. I find you attractive, and I'm probably the only person in the world who can save you from yourself. I don't sleep, I won't die, I'll always be able to keep up with your needs. I can save you. So why not?" Jack said.

She sat quietly for several minutes, contemplating what he had just said. It wasn't love, but it was at least stability. "Until now I've been homeless. I've avoided staying in any one place for long. Where will I live?"

"I live here. This place is huge. You could have a space of your own."

"And what about your team? What will you tell them?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll tell them you're my girlfriend."

"Okay." Elaina nodded, tentatively agreeing to the plan.

"Good." Jack grinned.

It happened to be a Saturday that day, the team would not be back until Monday so they had the entire complex to themselves. He spent the time giving her a tour, taking her out to breakfast, and helping her set up a room of her own. It was ten o'clock, Elaina had her back to him as she unpacked the contents of her backpack into a dresser. Jack slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He knew by her intake of breath and slow exhale that she welcomed his touch. He bent and kissed her neck, she dropped the clothing in her hands absent mindedly. Turning to face him, she kissed his neck too, then his lips. The new bed was far more comfortable than the cell floor had been. They took their time in it.

As evening came, Jack initiated again before the time was up, He wanted her to be aware that he was with her by choice and he wanted to be in control of his senses so she wouldn't get hurt. He began this time simply touching her face, brushing her hair out of her eyes, and bending to kiss her.

"My god, that isn't fair, Jack" She said breathlessly when they parted.

"Why not?"

"You said you liked me, but you're making me fall in love with you."

"You're not the only one falling." Jack said, kissing her again.

Afterwards, they laid under the covers naked in each others arms. Elaina was trembling.

"Are you cold?" Jack asked her.

"Yes, I'm freezing. I had forgotten that this would happen."

"What would happen?" Jack pulled the blankets tighter around her.

"I think that the release of pheromones is a lot stronger if I climax then when I don't"

"It makes sense that it would be, I guess." He grinned.

"I suppose it does, anyway, it makes me very cold."

"Then come closer and get warm."

They could hardly get any closer than they already were but Jack held her a little tighter anyway. She was almost relaxed in his embrace but not completely. He recognized her tension.

"Something's wrong." He said, it wasn't a question.

"Memories, that's all."

Jack nodded and kissed her on the forehead. "Wanna talk about it?"

"It isn't a particular memory. It's just a general feeling that I've had to live with. The sickening fear of having to chose between blinding pain or purposely causing a stranger to rape me." She was crying and shaking, and Jack knew that it wasn't just from cold anymore. "I don't want to ever go back to that life...and I don't even get a choice in the matter. My fate, is in your hands."

"Elaina, I've made bad choices in my life before. My team has accused me of being heartless. But for once in my life I'm making a good choice, I'm going to take care of you, whatever it takes."

"We're both going to live a long time Jack..."

"I know. Keeping you around means that I won't have to be alone anymore. I've gotten tired of living longer than all the people I care about. And it gets lonely here at night. Believe it or not, I want to be with you."

On Monday morning Elaina and Jack were waiting in his office when the team arrived. They stared at this stranger for a moment before she was introduced.

"This is Elaina Rostov." Jack told them. "She's going to around for awhile, as my guest,"

"Guest?" Owen grinned, "Does this mean we all get to bring a guest?"

"No." Jack said.

As the day wore on, Jack and Elaina slipped away twice to be alone. The rest of the team noticed, but they asked no questions. When they did the same the next two days, some of the team members began to feel irritated.

"Are you telling me, that I have to go do all the dirty work, while you sneak off and snog your girlfriend?" Owen snapped, when Jack tried to send him into the city on an errand.

Jack was visibly angered, but he refrained from yelling at Owen. Elaina who had been standing next to him looked down at the floor, hurt. Jack had come to know over the weekend that she was a reserved and private person. She wasn't comfortable with with anyone knowing about her condition or even with her reputation for having numerous men in her life. Jack glanced at her and took her hand.

"Perhaps you should tell them, Jack." Elaina suggested.

"Tell us what?" Gwen had seen the whole exchange and wanted to know just what was going on.

"Is that what you want?" Jack asked Elaina, knowing the answer already.

"No." She shuddered. "But you can't work in all this conflict, and I'm the cause of it."

Jack shook his head. "No. It's my fault. I should have handled this differently."

"What the hell is going on Jack?" Owen was too impatient to wait for them to sort out whatever their issues were.

"You all have been here long enough to know that people are not always what they seem." Jack told them. "Elaina is like that. She isn't what she seems, and she needs my help. Twice a day we have to leave here so I can help spare her pain. And that's all I'm going to say about it. No more questions. Back to work."

The week wore on and eventually Jack left on a case with Toshi and Gwen. For the first few hours, Elaina sat in Jack's office reading a book. She watched the clock and began to pace the room.

"Have you heard from them yet?" She asked Owen who was at the computer.

"Not yet." He said absently.

"Owen, I'm going down to the cells. I need you to lock me in until Jack gets back."

"What?" He spun on the stool to face her.

"Just lock the door and don't come near me, no matter what happens."

"Who are you? What are you?" Owen asked. She walked away without answering him. Soon he saw her on the monitor, entering one of the cells. She closed the door and he pushed the lock button just as she had requested.

He watched as she paced the cell for a long while. Then she fell to the floor, doubled over in pain. Her screams were agonizing. She curled up on her side on the floor, unable to do anything but scream.

"Elaina?" Owen said through the intercom. "Elaina what happened? What does Jack do to help you through this?"

"Stay away!" She managed to articulate through her screams.

Now it was Owen's turn to pace the room. He tried reaching the team but he knew they probably had no signal where they had gone. An hour passed, then another. Elaina's screams had only grown more intense. Finally the door opened and the team strode in. It took only a few seconds for Jack to asses the situation. The look on Owen's face, the screams on the intercom.

"She told me to lock her in down there." Owen was saying. "What's wrong with her Jack?"

Jack ran for the stairs. The team gathered around the screen to see what would happen. Jack opened her cell and went inside. She was still curled up on the floor. He knelt beside her and touched her face. She stopped screaming. Somehow, his touch seemed to ease her pain. He helped her sit up and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." He said between his kisses. "I tried to get here...but I got tied up...literally." The more he kissed her, the more relaxed she became. "Don't you ever do this again! If I'm late, you find someone else! Don't put yourself through this... you don't owe me any loyalty..."

"What is he talking about?" Gwen wondered out loud from her place at the screen.

"I didn't want someone else." Elaina was saying. "Only you."

"I know...I'm sorry..."

They continued kissing passionately on the cell floor until Jack began unbuttoning Elaina's shirt. Then Toshiko killed the lights down in the cells so that no one could watch. The team looked at each other, still confused about what the truth might be, then went back to work. Twenty minutes later, both Jack and Elaina came back upstairs. The team stared as they walked into Jack's office, still holding hands. They followed them in, they had to know.

"Are you going to tell us now?" Gwen began for them.

Jack told them, as briefly as he could, Elaina's history and how he had chosen to help her. Clearly uncomfortable about the subject, Elaina half hid behind Jack while he gave his explanation. She didn't want to viewed as a freak.

"I told you before that Elaina is not as she seems." He began. "She has to live with a cycle of pheromones. Her body produces massive amounts of pheromones every six hours. Any male within proximity after the sixth hour won't be able stop themselves, to the point of raping her. After sex, the pheromones are released and the cycle begins all over again. If she manages to avoid male contact, then she ends up in pain until...well until some guy releases her from it."

"So you're fuck buddies? Convenient." Owen said, speaking without thinking again as he often did.

Elaina, stepped further behind Jack, trying to hide her tears. Jack glared at Owen, then stepped aside and pulled Elaina into a hug.

"No." Jack said. "It's not like that. I care about her. I love her." He said looking down at her. "I'm trying to save her from being taken advantage of everywhere she goes and give her a halfway normal life. She's like me, she can't be killed."

"Is she human?" Tosh asked, curious.

"Half human." Elaina answered.

"Good for you, Jack." Gwen said, genuinely meaning it, as she left the room. One by one the rest of the team filed out of his office. Elaina and Jack were left alone.

"Did you just say what I thought you said?" She said, looking up at him.

He nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too."

After that day, the rest of the team learned to accept Jack and Elaina's absences. And after a few weeks of having Jack as stability in her life, Elaina started to gain a little bit of confidence and self worth. She took on a role of helping the team with office tasks and sometimes with translations of other languages when needed as it turned out that she spoke many languages, even a few languages of other planets. She was very intelligent and well read. Books had been her only companion for most of her life. Jack also became, friendlier, less aloof then he had been, perhaps even more compassionate. Having Elaina in his life had been good for him.

Late one night the couple lay naked in bed, kissing in the afterglow. She was shivering again and Jack pulled the blankets up around her shoulders. "Do you feel safe now?" He asked in between the kisses. "Or do you still fear your old life?"

"When I am with you I feel safe." She said.

"And when you aren't with me?"

"Sometimes I still worry. I've spent a long time living in fear. You've done a lot to heal me of all my past, but sometimes while we're working or talking or having lunch, it all comes rushing back and all I want is to find a way to die. I'd rather die happy then go back to that."

"You're still afraid that I'll send you away?" Jack was hurt by her words.

"We are very different from each other Jack. You don't strike me as the type of man who could stay happy with one woman for very long. You're far more spontaneous and flirtatious than I am. I would be happy to be with just you forever but...You are going to get bored with me eventually, and what happens to me then?"

Jack swallowed. "You're right about some of that. I am spontaneous, and I do flirt more. But I'm not the least bit bored with you and I don't think I ever will be. You are the most exciting thing that ever happened to me. I get to rescue you, to be your hero, everyday. How could ever get bored with that?" He grinned.

"Well when you put it like that..." She giggled. "But you do still flirt, I've seen it. I don't want to be possessive of you. I don't even have to keep you all to myself. I just need to know that you won't trade me in for someone else, that you'll always come back to me."

"I will always come back to you. If you're still worried, then marry me."

"Don't joke about that, Jack."

"I'm not joking. Marry me."

"Oh god, you are serious. Yes..yes, I'll marry you."

The two went out early the next morning and had a private wedding ceremony before the others even arrived for work. Gwen and Tosh noticed the ring Elaina wore right away and started offering congratulations.

Later that week the team was in the vehicle on their way back to Torchwood. They turned a corner and found a police roadblock ahead. Owen was driving. He stopped and rolled down the window allowing the officer to speak to him.

"How much longer is the road going to be blocked?" Owen asked him.

"Should be another two hours at least.?" The policeman stated. "If you're trying to get into Cardiff you'd best take the alternate road."

"The other road takes an hour and a half to get into the city!" Jack said, frustrated.

"It can't be helped, there's a good lot of debris to clean up from this accident."

"How much time does she have?" Gwen asked Jack, knowing that his worries about Elaina was the source of his frustration.

"Forty minutes. We could have gotten there in twenty if the road wasn't blocked."

"I might make it in time if I break the speed limit." Owen said.

"Do it." Jack said.

Owen made good time for the first half of the trip. He had to pass a lot of traffic and there were several near miss incidents. Then as they rounded a corner they saw an object in the road, an oncoming car prevented Owen from swerving away and his extreme speed made it impossible to stop. As the air blew out of the two front tires, the vehicle spun out of control, leaving the road and finally coming to a stop in a sheep pasture.

Jack got out of the vehicle and kicked the tires swearing in frustrated anger. Then he took out his cell phone.

"Elaina? I'm sorry, I'm not gonna make it in time..." The rest of the team couldn't miss the tears in his eyes. "I don't know, an hour maybe more...don't feel that you have to wait for me...I know...I know you'd rather wait..just know that don't you have to...I love you."

More than an hour passed before they finally arrived back at Torchwood. They found Elaina sitting curled up on the floor of Jack's office, She wasn't screaming in pain but had her head on her knees as she was sobbing, silently. Her hair was badly askew, there were bruises on her face and bite marks on her body, evidence of the incredible strength of the pheromones she produced. Jack went to her and helped her to her feet. She wouldn't look at him. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and tried to lift her chin to see her face. She pulled away.

"I'm sorry." He breathed. "Elaina, please look at me."

"I can't." She said. "Not until you forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive. This wasn't your fault. It's mine, I shouldn't have left you here."

Tentatively, she glanced up at him, looking for signs of anger or jealousy in his eyes as she had seen in her past relationships. It wasn't there. Jack pulled her into a hug and she willingly returned the embrace. The both of them were crying. The team left them alone, giving them space to recover from what had just happened. They could still see from the window of the office the couple holding each other and having a whispered conversation for half an hour longer.

"From now on she comes with us." Jack said, emerging from his office.

No one argued with him. Whatever their thoughts on the matter, they kept it to themselves.

The latest alien being held in a cell at Torchwood had strange electromagnetic powers. The angrier he became, the more the electricity in the city was shut down. Torchwood itself was being run on emergency backup power and there was no telling how long that would last. The humanoid alien shouted endlessly in some unknown language. Until they could figure out where he came from and what he wanted, he was posing a danger to the entire city and maybe eventually further than that.

"He hasn't actually hurt anyone aside from the problems with electricity. Maybe it's not an ability that he can control." Tosh was saying.

"It doesn't matter. If he can shut down the power here, then he can get out of his cell. Anyone desperate enough to escape is bound to hurt someone along the way." Jack said.

"I can help." Elaina said, taking Jack's arm. "I can find out what he wants and how to stop him."

"No." He told her. "It's too dangerous."

"I've been in worse situations." She argued.

"I said no!"

"Jack, if she can help...?" Gwen began, "What sort of danger are we talking about?"

He paused before answering her. "When Elaina's pheremones are about to be released, she has telepathic abilities for a short time. Regardless of language, for just a few moments she can take thoughts from the mind of whoever she's with and she can absorb their language."

"So that's how she knows so many languages." Gwen said.

"Except for Latin. I learned that the traditional way." Elaina said,

"But this isn't just some human spy we're trying to get information out of." Jack said. "That alien is almost a beast, he's twice human size, and angry. She's going to get hurt, badly."

"I want to do this, Jack. I can't pass up this knowledge... A whole new alien language...Whatever happens, I'll heal." Elaina told him.

"I know..." Jack said, he grabbed her into his arms and held her tightly, trying to hide his emotion at being helpless to save her yet again. Before she pulled away, he kissed her.

"Don't let anyone else watch." She said as she walked away. He nodded.

The team went to Jack's office without being asked, leaving him at the monitors alone. Even though they could not see, they could still hear much of what transpired. The aliens angry shouting turned to a different more primitive groaning, and in spite of her determination not too, Elaina screamed. Several minutes passed and Jack found that he had broken the computer mouse in his hand without even knowing it, then silence. He threw the mouse to the floor and ran for the cells. Owen, Toshiko and Gwen returned to the monitor.

They saw Jack carrying Elaina unconscious out of the cell. What was left of her clothes were badly torn and there was blood everywhere. Knowing how modest she was, Jack wrapped her nearly nude body in his jacket. The he sat on the floor outside the cells, holding her in his arms, waiting for her to wake up. It took nearly an hour for her to open her eyes. She gasped in pain when she opened them.

"Jack?"

"I'm here."

With that she passed out again. He carried her upstairs to the medical room and placed her on the table. Up close, they could see that her injuries were extensive. Jack pulled up a chair next to her and waited silently. The electricity flickered.

"Jack?" She said, waking for the second time.

"Elaina!" He jumped up from where he sat, taking her hand.

"That creature is evil. There wasn't one spark of good in him. Kill it please."

"I will." He said, heading back to the cells.

By evening, the alien was disposed of and everyone else had gone home. Elaina was still healing but it was nearly time for the cycle to renew. Jack had brought her to the bedroom they shared on another floor of the building and she slipped in and out of consciousness. She didn't heal from injury as fast as Jack could but she was healing nonetheless.

"Oh god, it's almost time." She groaned, waking up again.

"I know...I'm sorry...I promise I'll be as gentle as I can."

"Remember when I made Owen lock me in a cell?" She asked, still finding it painful to speak.

"Yeah."

"When you touched me and kissed me, it took most of the pain away...that never worked with anyone before...maybe it could work again."

"We can try." He agreed. They had noticed long before then, that unlike other men, he wasn't driven to violence by her pheremones. It did cause an increase in his desire, but he still remained in control. He never hurt her because of it.

For most of the night, they kissed and he caressed her. The pain still came, but it was more of a dull ache than the blinding pain she had known in the past. By morning she was healed enough for them to go all the way.

Elaina and the team watched Jack from a distance as he spoke to the master of the boarding school, the same school where there had been several supernatural alien type occurences. These happenings had been centered around one student, they needed to know that students name. Even from across the field they could see that he was flirting with the man who ran the school.

"Are you going to yell at him?" Gwen asked Elaina, worried about her reaction to her husband's behaviour.

"Not at all." Elaina glanced at her watch. "This is far too entertaining to be angry about." She laughed.

"Really?" Gwen was shocked. "I would never have thought you'd describe it as entertaining. You seem so...conventional."

"I'm not exactly conventional." Elaina laughed. "It's true I am modest, and I'm far less outgoing than Jack. In one more minute he'll have charmed that man into both giving up the name we need and into kissing him as well. That's one of the things I love about him. He could make a catch of anyone but he always comes back to me."

They turned back to see Elaina's prediction come true. Jack crossed the field and they waited tensely to see if there would be any conflict between the couple.

"They think I'm supposed to be angry at you." Elaina told him, eyes sparkling.

"Are you angry?"

"More like dissapointed. You could have made that kiss last at least another ten seconds."

Jack laughed, he lifted her off her feet in a hug and spun her around before setting her down again.

Elaina sat writing in Jack's office one afternoon while everyone else was working on their own projects elsewhere in the building. She was working on writing down the alien languages she had learned. It might prove helpful to others someday. The languages used alphabets that no human had ever seen. She saw them in her mind and attempted to draw the shapes. It would be several more hours until the next cycle came but Elaina found herself dropping the pen in her hands, a sharp pain piercing her stomach. This was not like anything she had ever felt before. Several seconds passed and the pain relented. Elaina picked up her pen and tried to forget what had just happened, perhaps it had been nothing. She was unable to write more than a single line of text before the pain returned, this time preceded by movement inside of her. The encounter with the alien had been only a month ago and she had gained a little weight since that time. It took only a few seconds for her to put the truth together. Terrified, she dragged herself out of the chair but fell to the floor before even making it to the door. Then she noticed that there was blood all over her pants and dripping off the chair. She tried to call out for help, but her voice failed her. Once again the pain relented the second time she moved quickly to the computer where Jack was working with Toshiko. Just as she reached him it returned and she nearly collapsed again but caught his arm before hitting the floor.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" He said, trying to help her up, but she was unable to stand up straight.

She gasped with pain but managed to get a few words out anyway. "I need...an abortion...right now!"

It took him but a few seconds to put the truth together, just as she had. Jack scooped her up and ran for the medical table, yelling for Owen to come and help him.

"What's going on?" Owen saw the trail of blood.

"Remember the electromagnetic alien last month? It impregnated her. You have to get it out!"

"Oh my god!" Owen set to work grabbing all the supplies he would need. "Looks like she lost a lot of blood."

"She lost a lot more in the office." Tosh said, having just come from there.

Owen used general anesthesia for the procedure. Elaina remembered none of it. She awoke to everyone sitting around her bed, waiting.

"You're all still here?" She was confused as to why they hadn't gone home yet.

"Of course we're still here." Gwen said. "We're your friends."

Elaina reached for Gwen's hand. "Thank you."

"Can I see it?" Elaina looked at Jack.

"Are you sure you want to?"

She nodded. Owen brought it to her. It looked twisted and deformed, entirely alien. She sighed with relief at it being out of her. "Thank you Owen."

Late one evening, Elaina was working alone on her language project. She had added her alphabetic characters to the computer and was compiling a dictionary of the language of the electromagnetic alien. She liked the solitude of working late in the evening. Jack was bored, pacing the room, making paper airplanes, flipping through books and putting them back again, distracting her from the project.

"Maybe you should go out, visit that dance club." She suggested.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Not really, but you seem bored."

"You're not?"

"No, not at all. I enjoy working out languages. If it wasn't this I would occupy myself reading."

"Every day? See, I don't see the fun in that, at least not every day."

She turned away from her work to look at him. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"Ski. I want to go skiing."

"This is Cardiff." She laughed. "Where the hell are we going to go skiing?"

"Switzerland, we could take a plane, be back by Monday morning."

"Maybe... but what happens when the cycle hits, on the plane, or in the snow?"

"We'll work it out somehow." He grinned.

She giggled, closing the laptop she'd been working with. "When do we leave?"

On the mountain, Elaina picked up skiing fairly quickly. She was not a naturally athletic person, but had learned to be athletic to survive. Those skills served her well on the snow covered mountain. Being bedded on the scenic mountainside in the snow made the trip worthwhile.

At the bottom of the trail, near the hotel lodge, the were preparing to get back on the lift when Elaina stopped to stare at a blond man leaving the hotel.

"What, did you suddenly decide you need to learn his language?" Jack joked with her.

She shoved him over into the snow. He got back up, laughing.

"I've seen him before." Elaina looked worried, glancing at the man a second time. "And I think...we need to leave!" She began removing her skis.

Jack followed suit. "Why, who is he?"

"He calls himself Hans Ruegg, but his real name is impossible for any human to pronounce. He was banished to earth and to human existence for attempted genocide."

Hans had stopped in his tracks. He stood, back to them, seemingly staring at a tree.

"Oh god, he can smell us, he knows I'm here." Elaina had only gotten one ski off, she was more irritated at her slow progress than afraid, but the fear was there too.

Hans turned around and walked straight over to where they stood. Something about his demeanor spoke of power, domination, and arrogance.

"Doctor Elaina Rostov, I would recognize your lovely scent anywhere. You are as beautiful as you were thirty-five years ago." Hans said, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Hello Doctor Ruegg." She said warily.

"I see you have finally taken a long term mate. Your scents have intermingled for quite some time it seems."

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

"Of Torchwood? Elaina, how could you?" Hans said, charmingly. "I knew I would always be disappointed that you didn't accept my offer, but this is just outright betrayal."

" Jack is my husband and I don't work for Torchwood." Elaina said.

"Of course you don't. Just like your being here at the exact same time as I am, is merely a coincidence."

"Actually, it pretty much is a coincidence." Jack said. "We were just leaving."

"I think not." Hans told them. "You will come with me." He pointed an alien gun at them, Hands in the air they went where he directed.

He took them to one of the cabins rented by vacationers around the lodge.

"Sit." He pointed them to a rustic table once inside. They obeyed. "Thirty-five years ago, I gave you a very worthwhile offer Elaina and instead of accepting my generosity, you acted with cowardice, running away from my estate in the middle of the night. Now, I am willing to forgive you for all of that and put the offer back on the table, in exchange for your husband's life."

Wide eyed, she looked at Jack. He nodded, giving permission for her to do whatever she must.

Hans took an object from his pocket and placed it on the table. It was some sort of alien artifact that Jack had never seen before. Elaina clearly recognized it.

"One hour." Hans said, touching the object and turning the space around the table into a sonic prison cell. Hans turned to leave the cabin.

"Hans?" Elaina called after him. He kept walking. "Hans!" She shouted.

"Yes my dear." Hans turned back around. "There's no need to shout."

"It won't work. It can't ever work." She began.

"Of course it will work. You can speak absolutely perfect Gnosh and that's all you need to access the vault. You will go to the Gnoshian vault and you will bring me back my biobox!"

"But I'm trying to tell you, it's impossible!"

"Fine, I'm listening. Explain to me why it's impossible."

"Because I already went to the vault just after I left your estate years ago." She stated.

"Without a spaceship to bring you there?" Hans was incredulous.

"You're not the only alien on this planet. Getting a ride was the easy part."

Jack listened in amazement to her story. It was coming too easily to her to be a lie. He wondered why she hadn't shared it before.

"You were right about easy access though, I'll give you that. The computers couldn't detect that I wasn't Gnoshian at all. I got your biobox, and I got the only copy of the box plans and made it back to the ship without a hitch. Destroying it all was the hard part."

"Destroying it?" Hans was aghast. "You didn't?"

"Of course I did! If I hadn't, you or some other maniac might have used it to wipe out the entire Gnoshian planet. There are nine billion peaceful Gnoshians living on that planet! I couldn't let anyone do that."

"I don't believe you. That box was made of enditanium. You couldn't have had anything powerful enough to destroy it." Hans was grasping at straws, hoping he could be right.

"I had a Brevati star shuttle." She told him.

Hans laughed. "Now I know you're lying. Those shuttles don't carry any significant weapons, they're cargo ships."

"You're right. They are cargo ships. Cargo ships with very powerful engines to carry heavy loads. Crashing one of those ships into, say, a deserted moon, can cause a pretty large explosion though. Plenty large enough to destroy your biobox."

"How did you survive? Well I suppose you might be able to survive that. But your pilot? It's not as if they keep escape pods on those blasted things, and sweet innocent Elaina wouldn't send a good man to his death." Hans was still trying to find holes in her story.

"The hell I would! The choice was one innocent man or nine billion! It wasn't easy to watch him die, but it was the right choice."

"So you're telling me it's all gone? My life's work is gone?" Hans looked ready to weep.

"Yes, it's gone."

Hans, pushed the button making the cell disappear. He walked away in silence, heartbroken in his insane way.

"What did Hans offer you?" Jack asked her later at Torchwood. "What did he offer you to retrieve his weapon?"

"A new body." She said sadly. "He had the means to transfer my consciousness into a normal human body. One without the cycle of pheremones."

"So when you went to the vault, did you intend on destroying the biobox from the beginning?"

She looked at him, hurt in her eyes. "No." She said after a minute. "No, I didn't."

He nodded, hugging her close.

"What exactly are you a doctor of?" Jack asked her another day, the rest of the team were all there to hear her answer.

Oh, this and that." She grinned.

"You have more than one doctorate degree?" He knew she was intelligent but was surprised that she had been keeping so much to herself.

"Linguistics, Philosophy, and Engineering."

"I hope you were planning to mention it sometime." He was a little disappointed.

"It didn't seem important or relevant." She shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"How did you manage to study and attend classes with your cycle?" He wondered aloud.

She gave him a look. "Ever noticed how many young men are hanging around at Universities? I was careful always hide in a closet or restroom, but it wasn't difficult."

"Right. So how did Hans know you were a Doctor? How did you meet him?"

Elaina turned away from her work, giving Jack her full attention. "It was 1971, I was in Zurich as a guest Professor at the University giving a lecture. Hans was a full time Professor at the University, he introduced me for my lecture and could smell that I was different as I passed him.

After the lecture he invited me to visit his estate. At first I declined, but he insisted. He let me know that he was aware that I was different, that I was not like other humans and he knew why. He told me he could show me the universe if I came with him. So I went.

His estate was filled with amazing artifacts. Many of them were alien but others were the books and ideas of earth's most genious minds. I was fascinated as he knew I would be. He was very careful to stay far away from me when my pheremones came. He arranged for other guests to come to me each cycle, but never once did he come to me. In my free time, he showed me two crashed alien ships that he had collected. He showed me weapons, maps of planets and galaxies that no human has ever seen, bewitching alien plants, and he danced with me to the most eery music I will ever hear.

I was very patient. I waited two weeks for him to tell me exactly what it was he knew about who I am. It was over dinner, some exotic meal his staff prepared to taste like food of his homeworld, when he told me what I had been waiting to know.

'Elaina dearest,' he told me, 'The truth is, you are only half human, or perhaps even less than half. I know by your scent that your ancestry if from the world of Ploxima. The people of that world have cyclic pheremones just as you do as part of their mating process. See the females there are naturally shy and would probably never emerge from hiding to find a mate without the cycle. Unfortunately your human genes were ill equipped to handle anything less than a continuous releasing of pheremones. The Ploximans don't have this problem. The pheremones build up, and if there is no mate or they choose not to take one, then they are released through pores on the back of their neck. Without those pores, you are doomed to depend on human men to help you, day after day. One so intelligent as yourself, deserves to be more emancipated. Now I know that full Ploximans have other abilities, they are very hard to kill and they have the ability to form a telepathic mind blending with their mates. If you have such abilities then perhaps we can make an agreement that would be to our mutual benefit.'

Then he introduced me to Kasho, a Gnoshian who had crashed on earth. He had already tried to torture Kasho into cooperating with his plans, but decided that adding me to the plan might work out better anyway. He sent me into Kasho's cell and... well you already know the rest."

"So your parents never told you that you weren't human?" Tosh asked, captivated by her story.

She shook her head. "Perhaps they didn't know. I was adopted and they disowned me when I was 15...but I got the chance to visit Ploxima once!" She went on excitedly.

"Tell me about it."

So she did. It was a world much like earth, but larger. The people looked almost human aside from some strange natural hair and eye colorings. It turned out that one of the boyfriends she had spoken of had been from this planet. She had lived with him for ten years until he was ready to move on to another mate. Ploximans did that, changed mates often. He did not understand her hurt at his leaving. He had not been gentle with her anyhow but that was just their way.

She told him of her return trip to earth. What might have been three years journey because of an engine failure, became a four month journey, after she had confronted the Captain of the ship, yelled at him that she wasn't a mentally deficient earthling, and fixed the problem herself. She told him of a sand world that she visited in 1910 and being eaten by a dragon on planetary moon.

"You've had as many adventures as I have." Jack said when she had finished. "You really should share them more often."

"Yes you should." Gwen put in. "That was better than watching the tele."

"Are you in love with Gwen?" Elaina asked Jack late one evening.

"What? What makes you think that?"

"I'm not blind Jack. I've seen the way you look at her."

"If I did have feelings for her...she's married...and I have you..."

"I know. I shouldn't be envious. I've told you I wouldn't be possessive of you and it doesn't bother me the least if you are interested in men but..."

"But you want to be be the only woman in my life." It wasn't a question. "I promise you, you are."

The team stood gathered around one of the computers looking at surveilance footage of a barfight that had gone wrong the night before. There was evidence that an alien had been involved in this altercation. It was hard to see exactly what had happened due to the bright flashing purple light that exploded in the middle of the fight. Most of the footage showed people fleeing the scene, screaming.

"Wait, rewind that bit!" Elaina exclaimed. "Enlarge that." She touched the screen. Tosh enlarged a man, mid forties, who was running with the rest of the crowd. "Can we see his left arm a little closer?"


End file.
